IFSW welcomes new UN online discussion forum to rethink the relationship between economic and social policy as social workers prepare to gather in Hong Kong for a major world conference.
The UN Research Institute for Social Development has recently launched an online discussion forum inspired by the pressing need to rethink the relationship between broader economic and social development goals and the international financial and trade regimes in the midst of multiple crises, in particular the global economic crisis.
The UN argues that the G20 group of developed nations ‘will play a significant role in shaping the new international financial and trade regime and is potentially one of the key institutions where a more inclusive, democratic and developmental framework for the achievement of social and economic goals can be formulated. The Development Forum for G20 aims to provide a channel through which innovative ideas on development, particularly those from the perspective of non-G20 countries, can be articulated as inputs into G20 discussions.’
Welcoming this new initiative by the UNRISD, IFSW President, Dr David N Jones, said ‘social workers all around the world have seen the damaging effects of harsh economic policies which do not take account of social realities. As the world is threatened with a new round of harsh budget cuts, social workers know from experience that those who will suffer most as a result of brutal economics are women and children. This should not be inevitable. It is a choice that is made.
‘The World Conference on Social Work and Social Development starts in Hong Kong on 14 June, with a keynote speech by Mr. Sha Zukang, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. 2,500 social workers and social development activists will work together to develop a new world social agenda for the decade. High on the agenda is the need to develop an economic policy designed for people not banks’, David N Jones concluded.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BE6B5/%28search%29/926333AB1CCA06EBC125773400516201?Opendocument&highlight=2,unrisd,web-based,development,forum&fromsearch=yes&query=UNRISD++Web-Based+Development+Forum
UNRISD Web-Based Development Forum for G20